‘What will the trial be like?’ Sofis asked as they descended down the staircase.

The woman didn’t answer.

The silence continued until they finally reached the bottom of the staircase, entering a room dimly lit with candlelight. A chest sat in the corner, taking up much of the space in the room.

‘Open the chest,’ the woman commanded.

Sofis complied. Inside was a set of thick plate armour padded with leather, a spear, a pair of metal boots and a pair of thick gloves.

‘Put them on.’

As Sofis changed into the armour, she noticed a sloshing sound within the armour itself. The plates were also much thicker than usual, limiting her movement and wrapping her tightly with its protection. As she trudged along, she felt as if she had become a pregnant woman, the extra weight causing her to struggle to even take a single step.

‘Good. Keep going.’

Thankfully, the woman wasn’t completely merciless and cold. As Sofis walked, encumbered by her armour, the woman matched her pace, even carrying the spear with her other hand.

The path was narrow, dark and slightly humid. As they ventured deeper, Sofis felt as if the air was becoming warmer. At first, she assumed it was just her body heating up, but that assumption was quickly dispelled when, even after extensive breaks, the air continued to become more unbearable.

Despite not having any supplies, hunger hadn’t begun to set in yet. The only limiting factor was Sofis’ stamina, which was admittedly quite terrible as they had to stop every few dozen steps or so. Surprisingly, the woman showed no mind to this, only continuing her walk when Sofis was ready.

For Sofis, the woman’s mystery only grew the more they spent time together. Despite having her wear this thick armour, the woman was still only clothed in her dress and armed with only a sword. As Sofis guessed she was to face some sort of physical trial at the last hall, she couldn’t fathom the fact that the woman was just going to guide her essentially unprotected.

‘Um… Where’s your armour?’ she finally asked the woman during the next break.

‘I have already brought it with me.’

This only left Sofis even more confused, as the woman wasn’t carrying anything besides the sword and spear.

Soon, they approached a chamber that was emitting a strong amount of heat. The woman promptly stopped, motioning for Sofis to now step in front.

‘Your first obstacle is ahead,’ she said.

Sofis stepped into the chamber. Inside was a red-scaled lizard, its large eyes blinking constantly as it quickly noticed her. There were two small horns on its head, while a pair of bony wings sprouted from its back. As it breathed, she noticed smoke came out of its mouth.

‘What is this creature—’

The next moment, a ball of fire was launched directly at her. She screamed and tumbled backwards, falling over due to the heavy armour. Yet somehow, she felt none of the heat, only a bit of steam coming out of her armour.

‘A dragon,’ the woman introduced, handing a panicking Sofis her spear. ‘Protect yourself from its attacks, and victory will soon be yours.’

Sofis gritted her teeth and stood back up. The dragon looked similar to the huge creatures she and the treasure hunters faced before, but it was far smaller and at least looked less terrifying. Still, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t terrifying.

She raised the shield and crept up towards the dragon, her head poking just above it to have some sort of visibility. The dragon launched a fireball. Sofis closed her eyes from the light, expecting a burn… but nothing. The shield had completely protected her.

Another fireball. No effect. Another one. Still no effect. Sofis crept closer, her spear now within striking range. The dragon scratched at her desperately with its claws while its wings flapped as rapidly as they could. However, it couldn’t damage her or fly away in evasion. Soon, it was cornered, its fire far weaker now that it had expended its stamina.

Sofis raised her spear to strike.

But she stopped. The dragon was too small. Although it intended to harm her, it wasn’t even able to do anything. She was well protected, the heat barely able to do anything against her body. There was really no reason to kill it, especially when it was still harmless.

After a long period of hesitation, she closed her eyes and thrust the spear at the animal. A gasp, a puff of smoke, a whimper… and it was dead.

Just like that, she had done it.

‘Continue,’ the woman said. Leaving the dragon corpse to rot, Sofis departed, going further into the depths.

Stolen story; please report.

Soon, they approached a split in the path. Neither seemed to be particularly indicative that it was the correct one as both appeared identical. Obviously, there weren’t any signs directing them where to go as well.

‘Which way should we head?’ Sofis asked the woman. Judging by the calmness, it would seem that the woman had been here before.

‘This is your choice.’

‘Well, at least I want to make an informed choice.’

‘And will you believe me if I say go right?’

Sofis paused. ‘I will choose to believe you and go right.’

The path that she took was rather quiet. There wasn’t really anything, only the occasional crackling of flame in the distance. Sofis was rather thankful for this. At least there were no further dragons to fight here.

But soon, to her dismay, the path led to a dead end. There wasn’t anything here, only a solid wall which blocked their progression.

‘You told me to go right,’ she complained to the woman.

‘You chose to go right. Besides I had never said you should go right. This was a suggestion created by your own imagination in order to find someone else to take responsibility for your actions..’

Frustrated, Sofis had no words to refute the woman. She simply backed up to where she was before taking the other path.

The other path was quiet as well, leading soon to a right, then a left, then another left, before right again. At no moment had Sofis needed to make a decision that involved a split path. It was all rather straightforward.

It wasn’t long before she encountered the second dragon. This one was sleeping and had only a single horn on its head. In her mind, it might as well be completely defenceless.

With a stab, she killed her second dragon without any instruction. She wasn’t sure if that was an act of protest against the woman or that she had already found the action natural. Either way, she continued on.

Soon, they reached another split, this time in three different directions.

‘Go left,’ the woman instructed.

‘I will only head straight—’ Sofis’ protest trailed off as the woman simply began walking towards the left. Exasperated, she followed the woman again.

Unsurprisingly, the path here was correct as well, and better yet, one without any creatures to kill. At the end of the path was an empty chamber with a pool of cool water. As soon as they entered, the air felt more comfortable, the water miraculously retaining its temperature even when surrounded by heat outside.

Sofis hopped in without hesitation, the metal plates of her armour immediately cooled down as she relaxed in the pool. The woman, however, chose to stand outside in the heat, alert with her sword in hand.

‘Are you not going to cool off?’ Sofis asked.

‘There is no need. This is only temporary relief. Also, soak your entire set of armour in the water.’

Sofis complied. She felt the armour growing heavier, the water seeping through some invisible gaps. She finally understood the reason why she couldn’t be burnt. There was water inside the armour, absorbing all of the heat from every fireball before escaping as steam, protecting her body inside. It was frankly quite genius, though she wondered who even made that set of armour in the first place.

As she finally stepped out of the pool in reluctance, she saw the woman was still standing unfazed in the heat. Just as she was about to call for her, she noticed the blood dripping from the tip of the sword.

Outside, two small dragons lay slaughtered, their muscles still twitching from the shock they received in the fatal cut. The woman seemed completely unbothered, stepping over them to continue on the path as soon as she noticed Sofis exit the chamber.

‘Keep going. We are almost there.’

Sofis looked away as she passed by the twitching corpses, forcing her eyes to focus only on the woman as the two of them ventured further in.

The rest of the path was completely guided and dictated by the woman. At every split, wherever the woman went, Sofis would follow without question. She had given up on maintaining her stubbornness. It was clear that the woman held the better judgement in this alien environment. She didn’t care if the woman’s words earlier somewhat damaged her pride. This was the best and only course of action she could take.

Eventually, the two arrived at a large hall. A mountain of jewels and precious metals were piled up at the centre, its dazzling brightness illuminating the otherwise dark space. The treasure hunters would’ve literally drooled at this sight, the wealth stored here probably far greater than any other storage in the world.

Sleeping atop of all that… was a fully developed dragon, its wings covering much of the pile, its claws long and sharp enough to slice a person in half. Its thick scales were like armour, while putrid black smoke emanated from its nostrils.

‘Go,’ the woman instructed. ‘This is your last trial.’

‘I’m supposed to… kill that?’

The woman didn’t answer, only lightly shoving Sofis down the slope. Unable to balance herself, Sofis tumbled downwards, barely holding onto the shield as she went. Her spear rolled along with her until she crashed at the bottom of the pile of jewels.

Dazed, she looked up at the monster before her. It was even more terrifying from her current angle, its colossal body appearing to be several times larger than the creatures that killed her and the band of treasure hunters dozens of times. Sure, she had armour, a durable spear and an even more durable shield at her disposal now, but it meant nothing if she was simply here to feed herself to its enormous mouth.

The dragon snorted. It was clearly disturbed. Its giant reptilian eyes opened, staring straight into Sofis’ soul. Realising its situation, it quickly scrambled to its feet and faced the invader that dared to touch its precious hoard.

Sofis’ entire body shook uncontrollably. She held the shield close to her body, too frightened to even grab the spear. Crouching down, she shrunk her body as much as possible as she raised the shield up towards the dragon, ready for the inevitable.

‘Protect yourself from its attacks, and victory will be yours,’ the woman said, repeating her advice from earlier. She was just sitting comfortably atop the crater with no sign nor intention to join Sofis in the fray while the latter was frightened to the point of tears.

No amount of calmness or knowledge could save Sofis at this point. All she could do was breathe.

The dragon opened its mouth, releasing an intense wave of hot air towards her. It was coming. She curled herself into a ball, praying the shield would be able to hold. Noticing the ground was actually made of soft dirt, she dug in a little, at least protecting the underside of her body.

The dragon roared.

And the next moment, Sofis felt an inferno engulf her whole.